Fears prompt withdrawal of Van Gogh film

The Rotterdam international film festival has pulled the last contentious work by Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh at the eleventh hour, amid fears that the screening might trigger further acts of religious violence. The short film, Submission Part One, was due to form the centrepiece of a debate on freedom of speech on Sunday night. It will now not be shown.

Submission Part One is a ten-minute film about a Muslim woman forced into an arranged marriage where she is beaten by her husband, raped by her uncle and finally accused of adultery. Explaining the decision to withdraw it, the film's producer Gijs van de Westelaken said: "We do not want to take any chance of endangering anyone else who participated in the film."

Theo Van Gogh was fatally shot and stabbed by an Islamist militant when cycling to work in Amsterdam on November 2 last year. A note pinned to his body referred to Submission Part One as the reason for the murder.

In the immediate aftermath of the killing, Submission's writer - Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who currently serves as an MP in the Dutch parliament - was forced into hiding. The murder was also blamed for a retaliatory wave of attacks on mosques and Islamic schools across the country.

The Rotterdam international film festival began on Wednesday and runs through to February 6. This week also saw the start of the trial of Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year old Moroccan national who is the chief suspect in Van Gogh's murder.